Organizational Behavior

W. Jack Duncan
Book review

Meera Iyer
Chapters

1. Organizational behavior: defining the field

2. Historical perspective
3. Methodological foundations of organizational behavior
4. Personality development and attitudes
5. The cognitive basis of individual behavior
6. Motivation: Theory and selected research
7. Introduction to small group behavior
8. Leadership behavior and effectiveness
9. Intergroup analysis: Co-ordination and conflict
10. The organization and the individual
11. Environments, organizations and behavior
12. Power relations in organizations
13. Performance evaluation and organizational effectiveness
14. Planned change and organizational development

This book is about organizational behavior. It is also a text on management. The objective of the
book is to present a research based approach to management from an applied behavioral science
perspective.

I have summarized each chapter of the book, explaining the main points that the authors wish to
communicate.

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 Organizational behavior – Defining the field

Organizations are collections of interacting and inter related human and non-human resources
working toward a common goal or set of goals within the framework of structured relationships.
Organizational behavior is concerned with all aspects of how organizations influence the behavior
of individuals and how individuals in turn influence organizations.

Organizational behavior is an inter-disciplinary field that draws freely from a number of the
behavioral sciences, including anthropology, psychology, sociology, and many others. The
unique mission of organizational behavior is to apply the concepts of behavioral sciences to the
pressing problems of management, and, more generally, to administrative theory and practice.

In approaching the problems of organizational behavior, there are a number of available strategies
we can utilize. Historically, the study of management and organizations took a closed-systems
view. The preoccupation of this view is to maximize the efficiency of internal operations. In
doing so, the uncertainty of uncontrollable and external environmental factors often were
assumed away or denied. This traditional closed-systems view of organizations made substantial
contributions to the theory of organizational design. At the same time, for analytical reasons,
organizations came to be viewed as precise and complex machines. In this framework, human
beings were reduced to components of the organizational machine.

More recently, the study of organizations and the behavior of human beings within them have
assumed a more open-systems perspective. Factors such as human sentiments and attitudes, as
well as technological and sociological forces originating outside the organizations, have assumed
greater importance in analyzing organizational behavior.

This book adopts the open perspective, because this is a contemporary and more meaningful way
to view organizations and human behavior within them. After some preliminary issues, we shall
examine the individual. We shall move from the individual to the small group, to the complex
organization, and finally to some environmental factors important to the process of organizational
change.

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 Historical perspective

This chapter presents a thorough, albeit brief survey of management history. The author has
taken care to underline the events that are most relevant to our behavioral science perspective.
The table below illustrates some of the important elements that have been discussed.

EVOLUTION OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES IN MANAGEMENT

MACHIAVEL ENGLISH WEBER TAYLOR MAYO MODERN

LI PHILOSOPHER BEHAVIORAL
S SCIENTISTS
Basic Human nature Human nature Human Human beings Human Human beings
assumption is basically evil basically beings are are beings are are neither good
about and subordinate requires strong primarily fundamentally social nor evil. Some
human to the demands state if inherent irrational and lazy and must creatures argue that people
nature. of the ruler and desires are to be subject to be carefully desiring possess a
the state. kept within emotion, controlled to association uniqueness in
boundaries. which makes avoid waste. with others. terms of
for sub- The tendency purposeful
optimum is toward co- behavior. Others
decisions. operation, not view human
competition behavior as being
and conflict. orderly in much
the same way as
inorganic objects.
Approach Historical Basically a A rational Experimental Basically Fundamentally
to analogy andphilosophical approach that and extremely experimental experimental.
analyzing observation ofrather than logical and scientific. but also Places emphasis
human behavior inscientific view. deductive. Used an philosophical on closely
behavior total All believed that Began with approach that . Took controlled
environment experience was well-founded began with considerable observation and
source of premises and small elements liberty in the generation of
understanding progressed to of work and supplementin data.
and they conclusions. progressed to g fact with
accepted the conclusions. philosophical
inductive insights.
method as
refined by
Francis Bacon.
Predomina Power and Order and the Rationality Justice and a Mental health Scientific
nt value practical means to and logic in fair day’s and understanding
sought political achieve organizationa work for a fair satisfaction with a
methods for functional l decisions. day’s pay. in comprehensive
goal government. organizationa description of
accomplishmen l human behavior.
t relationships.

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Primary The ruler or the The society The Managers of The
Management scientific
beneficiary politician through viable organization organizations community
and workers
of government. as a rational and workers through increased
through
prescriptio and efficient through understanding of
increased
ns entity. increased pay. human behavior.
satisfaction
Value
and mental to
management in
health.
that the
understanding
may lead to
improved
performance.
Appeal to Practical and Idealistic in the Promising in Compelling in Attractive in Compelling in its
modern expedient. concept of its support of its simplistic its picture of objectivity and
manageme order. rational, view of social man. systematic
nt well- economic structure.
informed man.
decision
making.

In looking at the table, we see a variety of interesting trends. For example, Machiavelli saw
humanity as basically evil but capable of being manipulated toward the desired ends of rulers.
The English philosophers adopted essentially the same view but placed more emphasis on the
interests of the state (or organization) and less emphasis on the personal aspirations of the
individuals in power. Weber avoided moralistic assumptions about the inherent good or evil of
human nature and chose to view people as irrational and emotional. Taylor looked upon human
beings as lazy and motivated by self-interest. Reasoning from any of these premises, one comes
to the conclusion that control of human behavior is necessary, as evidenced by the concern for
authority in early administrative and political thought.

With Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies, however, we see the assumption of the cooperative social
human being. Thus, it is not surprising that the emphasis moved away from the control
philosophy. Behavioral scientists today assume that human beings are neither good nor evil. For
this reason, there has been more emphasis placed on describing behavior as it exists under
different conditions. The result has been no clear-cut prescription for any specific type of
authority orientation that can be applied to all cases.

With regard to the methods employed in understanding in behavior, Machiavelli relied on

historical analogy and observation. The English philosophers advocated inductive logic, while
Weber approached the subject deductively. Taylor was extremely experimental and scientific;
Mayo mixed experiments with philosophy. Behavioral scientists today are almost completely
experimental in their orientation.

Machiavelli sought a practical theory of power, while the philosophers sought order, Weber’s
quest was for rationality, and Taylor championed justice. Mayo’s preoccupation was with the
mental and emotional health of workers. Today’s behavioral scientists are concerned primarily
with understanding behavior for its own sake.

The person in power, or aspiring to be in power, would be the benefactor of Machiavellianism,

while society with a stable system of government would benefit from the guidelines proposed by
the English philosophers. Weber’s bureaucracy was designed to add rationality to decision

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making. Both managers and workers conceivably could benefit from the systems proposed by
Taylor and Mayo, although the benefits derived would be different. Modern science would be
served best by the actions of contemporary behavioral scientists, as would workers and managers
through the application of scientific knowledge.

Finally, Machiavelli’s practical-objective approach to reality constitutes his appeal. The

philosophers are appealing because of their ideal of order. Weber and Taylor find support from
business people because their ideas contain a promise of rationality and economic efficiency.
Mayo is attractive because he enhances our image as unique beings unlike all others. Behavioral
science today is compelling because of its objectivity and systematic structure.

In this chapter several things have been recognized. First, the basic interest in human behavior in
organizations can be traced to distant origins. The interest goes back even further than we have
noted, perhaps even to Biblical times. Secondly, the contributions have come from a variety of
sources. Political and moral philosophy made their contributions along with economics,
psychology, engineering, and sociology.

Systematic administrative thought, where the concern is for practical matters relating to the
management of organizations, is properly viewed as a product of the twentieth century. From the
mechanistic views of Weber, Fayol, and Taylor came the humanistic interest of Mayo and others
in the 1920s and 1930s. This human relations view has been refined even more by modern
behavioral scientists.

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 METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

In this chapter a detailed look has been taken at the alternative methods available for generating
valid knowledge in organizational behavior. Primary emphasis has been placed on the
requirements for an acceptable deductive argument and the elements necessary for accurate
empirical analysis. The problems of behavioral measurement are also analyzed. The chapter
concludes with an examination of the functional explanation, which is frequently encountered in
the biological and behavioral sciences.

Rather than reiterating here the arguments developed, the need for devoting a chapter to the
discussion of selected philosophical problems of the inexact sciences is reviewed. The objective
is not abstraction for the sake of abstraction. Sir Roy Harrod, the great British economist, once
said that, “the barrenness of methodological conclusions is often a fitting compliment to the
weariness entailed in the process of reaching them.” Such discussions do indeed sometimes seem
unusually boring and tiresome. However, in the area of organizational behavior, methodological
issues are especially pressing. As the analysis is continued throughout the remainder of this
book , frequent reference is continuously made to issues of knowledge generation, measurement,
and associated topics that are all methodological in character. This is the method that unites
science. If a systematic understanding of the concepts of organizational behavior is to be
developed, then the methods employed in formulating them has to be appreciated.

Therefore, it is hoped that this chapter has provided a brief introduction to the methodology of the
behavioral sciences. Of special significance is the recognition that although organizational
behavior is scientific in character, it deals with human beings. Human beings are different from
inanimate objects and organizational behavior is an empirical discipline. The application of the
strict and unmodified inductive method, however, fails to account for many unique qualities of
humans. The objective is to be as scientific as possible, while remaining open to the realities of
human behavior.

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 PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND ATTITUDES

In this chapter there are several things of special importance that have been considered. First,
personality is briefly traced and attention given to the contributions and limitations of
psychological theory, trait-factor theory, and the need theories of Maslow and McClelland. All of
these important formulations provide some useful information about the behavior of individuals
in organizations.

Next, a systems view of human behavior was proposed to illustrate how cognitive processes and
needs act upon environmentally induced stimuli. This interaction results in actions that are once
again subjected to the influence of environmental forces. In this section, attention is given to the
complex problem of how heredity (nature) and experience (nurture) interact in determining
human behavior. The conclusion drawn is that most important aspects of behavior are neither
genetically nor environmentally determined. Instead they result from the influence of the two.

An attempt has also been made to examine the relationship between culture and behavior. Since
culture includes all learned behavior, the discussion is restricted to the influence of generational
values and the specific importance of value differences among social classes and work groups.

The final major topic of discussion related to attitudes and attitude change. A careful analysis is
made of attitude formation and the controversial relationship between attitudes and behavior.
Although some studies question any casual association between attitudes and behavior, most of
the discrepancies can be explained on methodological grounds.

With regard to attitude change, it’s noted that congruent changes (changes in magnitude rather
than in direction) are easier to effect than incongruent changes. Behaviorally, factors such as
communicator credibility and attractiveness are important determinants of the ease alteration.

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 THE COGNITIVE BASIS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR

This chapter has examined the core cognitive processes and has illustrated their importance to
organizational behavior. To begin with, it looks at perception and specifies three characteristics
of the perceptual process. Perception was first characterized as a selective activity. People
cannot perceive all the stimuli confronting them from the surrounding environment. Thus, it is
safe to say that managerial action usually takes place on the basis of imperfect or incomplete
information. The stimuli that are selected are usually those that reinforce the attitudes of the
perceiver.

Perception is further characterized by closure. Even though people selectively screen

environmental stimuli, they fill in gaps and complete the perceptual picture as if they had
complete information. Finally, perception takes place within a context. The context helps people
to orient themselves to reality. In practical terms, the perceptual process is important is important
to management because this process determines the quantity and quality of information upon
which decisions are made.

Learning is discussed as a cognitive process. a distinction is made between classical and

instrumental conditioning, in classical conditioning a stimulus is presented prior to or
simultaneously with a response. In instrumental conditioning a response occurs in anticipation of
some consequence. In recent years some of the most important implications of learning theory
for management have been in the area of motivation.

The cognitive process of human problem solving has been examined. Its noted that few real-
world situations, present individuals with one, and only one, course of action. Usually, one must
make a choice among alternatives and engage in problem solving. Applications of problem
solving were shown to be evident in the managerial activity of decision making. Two approaches
to decision making have been analyzed. Normative decision theory tells us how decisions ought
to be made if maximizing behavior is to be achieved. Behavioral decision theory tells us how
decisions are actually made and does not attempt to prescribe normative guidelines. The
objective of core cognitive processes has set the stage for discussion of modern motivation theory
and practice, which is the next topic.

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 MOTIVATION THEORY AND SELECTED RESEARCH

In this chapter, an attempt has been made to review selected topics in motivation. The format
was methodological primarily to illustrate that considerable controversy exists in the area, even
though motivation has consumed much of the energy of writers in the behavioral sciences and
management.

The important point to recognize is that the generality and pragmatic usefulness of a particular
approach to motivation is closely related to the manner in which that approach is developed.
Rational-deductive theories such as the Barnard-Simon model(exchange theory) and expectancy
theory are based on certain prior assumptions about rational human choice. Consequently, they
are extremely general, in a scientific sense, because they can be applied to a wide range of
situations and circumstances. Herzberg’s two-factor theory and operant conditioning are more
inductive and empirical. Thus, they are more specific and less universally adaptable.

Given the present sate of motivation theory, the best strategy for a prospective manager is to
become as familiar as possible with all of the theories currently available. The truth is that thee is
something new and something true in all of them. The manager’s problem is to carefully choose
those new things that are true, and to skeptically decide which true things are really new. This, of
course, is not an easy dilemma for the manager to resolve. Even behavioral scientists who devote
most of their time studying motivational problems find the issue complex and frustrating.

Once the essential foundations of motivation theory and practice are understood, one is able to
confront the more philosophical questions of how behavioral science knowledge should be used
in the managerial context. Issues of this nature immediately converge on such questions as the
ethics of behavior modification. This issue cannot be avoided by any managers because of very
real pressures from society, including legal intervention into motivational practices and the
protection of individual rights on and off the job.

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 INTRODUCTION TO SMALL GROUP BEHAVIOR

This chapter has discussed the concept of the small group and has illustrated the importance of
the small group within the broader topic of organizational behavior. Small group has been
defined as a collection of interacting individuals who have common goals, similar values, and a
structure of relationships. Groups come in a variety of forms, depending on the classification
schema utilized.

The problem of defining the size of a small group is particularly troublesome. Because of their
uniqueness, dyads and triads are considered special cases. Consequently, the main body of small-
group theory that we discussed was related to groups of four or more, up to some theoretical
limit where personal interaction is no longer possible.

One of the more important characteristics discussed is the nature of normative behavior in groups.
An extremely complex relationship exists among such factors as group norms, conformity,
cohesiveness, and group performance. Since performance is a manager’s primary concern, care
has been taken to examine this interrelationship in detail and specific examples given of ways in
which knowledge of this process has been used by the managers of organizations.

No discussion of small group behavior is complete without an analysis of the structures that
inevitably develop in the group context. For this reason, role relations have been examined,
including clarity, ambiguity, and conflict, along with the extremely relevant topic of status. In all
cases, care has been taken to report the hard research data that have developed with respect to
these topics.

One is too familiar with the fact that the role expectations and status hierarchies exist in all kinds
of groups. A careful reading of the research should help to understand why this is true and even
necessary for proper group functioning. Recent attention has been given to other topics involving
group interaction. One of the important areas has to do with the effectiveness of groups as
problem solvers. After the discussion the pros and cons of individual versus group problem
solving, guidelines were offered for effectively using a combined interacting-nominal group
process.

Remarks on sociometry and interaction process analysis were included as methods of

understanding group behavior. There are other methods of analyzing interpersonal behavior.
Particular methods were selected primarily for purposes of illustration – to show that there are
indeed systematic techniques for gaining insights into small-group phenomena.

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 LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR AND EFFECTIVENESS

A variety of topics relating to leadership has been presented in this chapter. Some important
aspects are highlighted here.

Early leadership theory concentrated on the traits possessed by leaders. The interest in traits
progressed from an analysis of physical-cultural characteristics such as height, nationality, race
and so on, to more complex socio-psychological traits such a competitiveness, intelligence, and
aggressiveness.

This approach continues to have a certain intuitive appeal. For example, the International Herald
Tribune (1976) in reporting the death of MaoTse-tung, noted that the Chinese leader was greatly
influenced by a book entitled Great Heroes of the World, in which he read about Napolean,
Catherine the Great, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and others. Even today the
temptation to look at the important traits of recognized leaders is great.

Recent leadership research has been directed more carefully towards the situational or relative
view of leadership. Rather than taking the view that leadership is a personal phenomenon related
to the traits of individual personalities, the approach looks more clearly at the impersonal aspects
of the situation. Although this appears to many people to be a more productive approach, the
definition of the situation is far from simple. Some researchers have taken a positional approach
and have examined an individual’s position within the network of group information flow. The
conclusion has been that leadership is related to the control of information. Thus, a person who is
‘central’ or controls information, appears to have a greater probability of emerging as a leader.
Other factors such as visibility also appear to offer promising opportunities for further research.

A more developed theory of leadership effectiveness that has been successful in relating
leadership style to group effectiveness is known as contingency theory. Through the use of the
least preferred co-worker score (LPC), leaders are first classified as task or relation oriented. The
leadership situation then is categorized according to the leader’s position power, the structure of
the task, and the favorableness of leader-follower relations. By relating a person’s leadership
orientation and the situational favorableness, the contingency model proposes a rather complex
set of associations.

The chapter concludes by briefly introducing path-goal theory to provide an extension of the
previously discussed models and to relate leadership to the earlier discussions of instrumentality
theories of motivation.

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 THE ORGANIZATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL

The purpose of this chapter has been to provide a transition between group behavior and the
influences of organizational design. In addition, some rather specific goals have been established
for the analysis. The attempt has been to not overestimate or underestimate the importance of
structure on organizatioanal behavior.

The objectives having been defined, the authors surveyed various views of the individual’s
interaction with the organisation. Both the Weber’s theory of bureaucracy and the new
developing contemporary structural view advocated by Charles Perrow have been elucidated. The
point of agreement in both formulations is the importance attached to positions and roles rather
than to personality factors.

Then the non structural arguments by Chris Argyris and Warren Bennis were dealt with. The
former propounded that there is incongrruency between the needs of the mature adult personality
and the demands of the formal organization. This incongruency is capable of producing many
things, including frustration and apathy on the part of organizational members. Warren Bennis’
idea was regarding the inability of bureaucracy to adequately respond to change. These ideas are
relevant to the issue of organizational behavior because they propose a drastic shift from the
traditional bereaucratic views regarding human nature, power and democratic processes in
oranisations.

The chapter concludes with a look at two different views of the organization, developing a
relation between the two relating to the ease with which organizations interact with
environmental forces. The first view which is regarded as the machine model of organization
tends to minimize the importance of environmental factors in influencing organizational
behaviors. The second is the open systems model which recognizes the necessity of
organizational – environmental interaction. A view of the holistic character of organizational
behavior shows that environmental forces are explicitly acknowledged as determinants of
structure. The structure consequently influences behavior which in turn has reciprocal impact on
design.

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 Environment, Organizations and Behavior

In this chapter the specifics of the complex linkage between environmental externalities, organization and
individual behavior have been explained. In sociotechnical systems, social relationships in work groups can
be associated with the technological demands of their tasks. In spite of the enthusiasm of the proponents of
the sociotechnical view, considerable controversies exist with respect to the nature of the effect of
environmental factors on organizational structures and consequently on behavior.

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 Power relations in organizations

The chapter begins with a review of the sources of power and reveals that the power to influence can come
from many sources. These sources range from extremely personal things such as charisma to structural or
positional influences. The use of power is really a question of leadership styles. The power one holds over
another is associated with dependency. When one person is influenced by another for something he or she
values, the former is more easily influenced by the latter.

Complex interrelationship between organizational goals and the political process known as coalition
formation is discussed. Regardless of whether one accepts the natural systems view or the individual view
of organizational goals, one must explain how the desires of various interest groups and/or individuals are
translated into objectives of organizations. This is where theory of political coalition becomes an important
issue.

Viewing power and goal formation as political processes adds a distinctive behavioural tone to the
processes evident in organizations of every type. Human beings are in fact political animals and it is
important to recognize this aspect of organizational behavior.

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 Performance evaluation and organizational effectiveness

One essential component of a successful appraisal system is the existence of clear and well
communicated goals. Without an understood standard, the evaluation has little meaning. There is
a great deal of evidence stating that particiation is an important part of implementing an appraisal
system. When people feel that they have participated in setting goals and establishing guidelines,
they appear less resistant to the changes such systems inevitably produce.

Orgnisational effectiveness is generally associated with goal accomplishment. Although this is an

accurate method of examining effectiveness, problems arise when we rely completely on the goal
approach. Reality is, in most cases, too complex to expect an organisation to proceed directly
from the accomplishment of one goal to another.

A more realistic approach is the systems model which considers numerous subsystems and
elements. The chapter attempts to look at selected organizational outputs. The first is effective
performance and second is organisational effectiveness defined in a specific manner.

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